Among the factors contributing to wine complexity and quality, wine aroma is one of the
most important factors. Wine aroma is the outcome of interaction among different
compounds produced from the grapes, during fermentation as well as during the ageing
process. Apart from its origin from grapes, fungi and yeasts, wine aroma can also be
derived from the metabolic activity of wine lactic acid bacteria (LAB). These
microorganisms are usually associated with malolactic fermentation (MLF) which normally
occurs after alcoholic fermentation. MLF is beneficial to wine due to its contribution to
deacidification, microbiological stabilisation and wine aroma formation, with the latter being
the most important area of interest in our study. The production of volatile aromatic
components in wine can, in part, be achieved through the hydrolytic action of enzymes
produced by LAB associated with wine. These enzymes include β-glucosidase, protease,
esterase, lipase and glucanase. Most of the work done on bacterial enzymes has been on
LAB from food sources other than wine, in which these enzymes contribute to the flavour
development of some cheeses, yoghurt and other fermented foods. The activity of these
enzymes during wine fermentation has mostly been concerned with β-glucosidase from
Oenococcus oeni. Only in recent years has there been a renewed interest in evaluating
the activity of β-glucosidase in other genera of wine LAB.
The overriding goal of this study was to screen and characterise wine-related enzymes
produced by LAB associated with wine. All the LAB isolates tested in this study were
obtained from IWBT culture collection and were previously isolated from five different
wineries situated in the Western Cape region, South Africa. We first screened isolates
using classical methods. The isolates were grown on agar medium supplemented with
appropriate substrate analogues in order to evaluate the activity of enzymes (i.e. β-
glucosidase, glucanase, lipase and esterase). The colonies exhibiting enzymatic activity ...